


Now You See Me, Now You Don't

by AlmightyHail



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: and this isn't meant to be perfect, cheesy badass movie style scenes, every single one is mentioned at least once, i'm not good with mystery writing, no beta readers because it's like 8 AM, no one's awake, sorry about that, takes place after LL #5, very cliche, yes all of these characters show up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 23:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10954590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmightyHail/pseuds/AlmightyHail
Summary: Getaway calls back Team Rodimus in distress, ranting about an invisible monster terrorizing the Lost Light. The actual identity is different than they all expected.





	Now You See Me, Now You Don't

**Author's Note:**

> This is an OC - original character I created, for the IDW Transformers world. She's not perfect, and still unfinished. Don't expect flawlessness in her characterization.

Nobody was exactly in the best mood. While the mission was a success, it came at a close call where they almost lost one or two of their own, and Megatron and Rodimus's fighting had nearly caused them to fail. Injured, bitter, and quiet, the Rodimus crew arrived back at the Necrobot's stronghold, none with smiling faces.

Brainstorm ran up to them, excited to see that they'd successfully teleported back, but Ratchet gave him a cutting look.

"Not now, Brainstorm," Drift said gently despite his displeased expression.

"Captains," Chromedome called from the hallway entrance.

"Not interested," Rodimus yelled back, not looking. He wanted to be left alone. Megatron didn't answer, walking to make sure Terminus's injuries wouldn't be permanent. Ratchet reassured him he'd be fine.

"Captains, it's--"

"I don't care, Chromedome. Save it."

"But it's--"

_"SAVE IT!"_

Megatron ignored his co-captain's yelling. "What is it, Chromedome," he asked in a calm voice.

"We have an incoming call," Chromedome answered, relieved at least one of them was listening. "It's from the Lost Light."

A dozen heads turned. Rodimus sprinted towards Chromedome, the others not far behind.

The Lost Light? Why would the Lost Light be calling? The speedster mentally begged no one in particular that somehow, his ship was being returned to him and that Getaway was taken care of.

He and Megatron ran into the comms room, where Rewind was clearing the channel static. Someone on the other line was yelling, but the voice was distorted.

"What are they saying?" Rodimus asked.

"We haven't been able to clean up the signal yet, but..." Rewind exclaimed in delight as the video feed cleared to a crisp image of the deck of the Lost Light. "Aha!"

In front of them, projected on a large central screen, was Getaway. Behind him, around the room and guns pointed at the doors, were Blaster, Jackpot, Crosscut, Mainframe, Bluestreak and Hoist. Everyone looked tense, on high alert. The door itself had been crudely welded shut and a desk pushed up against it.

"Oh, isn't this a nice surprise," Rodimus sneered. "You've got a lot of nerve to call back, Getaway."

"Shut up, Rodimus!" the escape expert yelled. "We know what you did! And we want answers!"

"I don't know what you're talking about but you can bet your aft you're not getting slag from me," Rodimus said coldly.

"Oh, you _do_ know! I can see it on your stupid smug little face! You know EXACTLY what's going on! I demand you explain this and _now!"_

"What's going on, Getaway?" Megatron asked. He hated seeing the traitor's face, but stayed patient. Getting angry could be saved for later, if this turned out to be nothing but a trick.

"'What's going on?' Are you joking?" Getaway was hysterical. "Why don't you tell your friends what's going on! You did this! I know you did! You AND Rodimus must be in on this!"

"That isn't an explanation," Megatron said.

Getaway held up his servos. "Fine. Fine. If you are so proud you want me to EXPLAIN to you exactly what your little freakshow is doing, I will."

"Wait, freakshow?" Rodimus raised an optic arch. Now he was curious.

"Don't play stupid, Rodimus, you're already stupid enough." Getaway turned to Megatron. "This has to be your doing. You brought this thing onto the ship, and waited until something happened before letting it run loose. Now it's rampaging the ship, and killing everyone it comes across!"

Rodimus looked at Megatron. "You didn't bring anything on the ship, did you?"

"Even if I had, it wasn't by choice," Megatron explained to Rodimus. "I wouldn't risk my chances at making amends by placing something dangerous on the ship. If something really is on the ship, killing and causing havoc, it wasn't me who put it there. I had no idea it was there."

Rodimus made an incredulous expression. As much as he had strong distaste for the ex-con, he had to buy his words this time.

"Oh, bull!" Getaway interrupted. "You put this thing on the ship to ensure that if anything happened to you, it would break out and kill us all and come to your rescue. I don't have to be a detective to figure that one out!"

"I'm telling the truth. I don't know what's on the ship, but it wasn't me who put it there," Megatron said.

Getaway scoffed. "Fine, keep saying that."

"Do you know what this thing looks like?" Ratchet asked from behind Rodimus.

"Of course not, it's invisible!" Getaway answered.

A second's pause as everyone looked at each other.

"It's...Invisible," Rodimus repeated in disbelief.

"Yes! And we've tried catching it--"

In the background of Getaway's stream, a loud metallic clang rang out. Everyone in view turned to look to their left, down a hall to offices. Guns swiveled in the direction of the noise.

"...Go find out what that is," Getaway ordered. When the others hesitated, he repeated. _"GO!"_

Blaster and Hoist took off reluctantly down the hall to inspect the sound. Getaway turned back to the stream.

"This thing's got you pretty spooked," Rodimus said.

Getaway's optics expanded. "Spooked? This thing is KILLING us! We had to lock everyone in their rooms and send the bodies to First Aid in the med bay. It already sabotaged the engines so we can't go anywhere--"

"Wait, it sabotaged the engines?" Megatron asked as Nautica perked from the back of the room. "How?"

Getaway looked confused. "Why does it matter? The damn thing unplugged all the pipes and destroyed the control panel, and shoved a metal rod through the tanks. They've got no power, no supply, and no way to turn them on."

"Repairable, but that would take a while," Nautica said quietly. "Why not just send a team to repair it?"

"If that thing's running around, it'd be risky to try and send in a team," Ratchet said to her. "And from the sound of it, it already has access to the engine room, and knows exactly where it is. If people tried to enter and fix the damage, it might go for them. That's more casualties. It's better to wait and figure out a way to trap it."

"Why not use the engine room as a trap?" Megatron asked Getaway. "Send in a decoy team, wait for it to show up and trap it."

"Because we already TRIED that!" Getaway answered angrily. "We tried trapping it in storage rooms, in the hangars, anywhere we could and it keeps finding a way out! It's like it can walk through walls. We can't see it, we can't hear it, and we can't trap it."

"Wait a sec," Rodimus interrupted. "You, Getaway, the escape artist, the mech who's never been in a trap he can't break out of, can't trap something that's after him."

"You mock me, Rodimus, but just you wait. Look at this."

On the side of the screen, a small video feed popped up. The lighting was dim and the view bent down over the expanse of a large room. The walls were lined with tables and booths, with an empty bar in the center that was being disassembled. On the ground next to a collapsed countertop slab, two motionless bodies laid, energon pooled under them.

"Hey, that's my bar!" Swerve exclaimed. "What are they doing to it!?"

"Hush, Swerve," Megatron said.

The feed continued for a few seconds, and then the doors of the room opened. A crew of five armed mechs stepped in, swinging their guns around them. They looked in every direction, but nothing moved. Slowly the circle made their way to the two fallen bodies, and one of them bent down to check their vital signs.

"What am I looking for here?" Rodimus asked.

"Just you wait, you'll see it," Getaway said.

The feed kept playing. Something happened that the viewers couldn't hear, but in the room everyone in the crew turned to their right. All guns raised and pointed there. Out of the corner of the feed, a cup rolled off a table and clattered on the ground. No one's guns dropped, and they continued to point in the direction of the cup and the noise.

Suddenly, a tiny blip - too quick to be seen clearly - appeared in front of the furthest mech from the sound. Faster than a blink the blip disappeared, and the mech fell, collapsing like a ragdoll. Everyone else began to turn in every direction, several firing in panic.

Rodimus and the others watched, in shock, as the strange dark blip would appear before one of the mechs - or behind - and with a few blurry movements, strike down every member of the group. In less than ten seconds, the entire team was down, now laying scattered around the bodies already left from when they entered.

 _"Whoa,"_ Rodimus said. He had to admit, he was impressed, and a little chilled.

"NOW you see?" Getaway exited the feed and was now in full view. "That thing's been terrorizing the ship for two days!"

"Wait, you made it sound like it started fighting back the second we were gone," Megatron said. "This thing only showed up a couple days ago?"

"Yes, and it's merciless," Getaway said. "Not only has it destroyed the engines and forced the ship into lockdown, it destroyed the map!"

Rodimus cursed. "Are you serious!? It got into the bridge!?"

"It can get anywhere that there's a door!" Getaway said. "We tried barring it up and melting it so it can't open and so far it's worked--"

"Wait a second," Megatron said. "If it's been able to enter that room before, and you guys are still on the bridge, what's to say it isn't already in there with you?"

The comms went dead silent, as Getaway's optics widened in horror. He settled after a few seconds. "No way, it can't be. We've been in here for hours, it would have striked by now."

"Not if it knows it's outnumbered," Rodimus said.

"Didn't you see the feed?" Chromedome piped up. "That thing took on a team of FIVE, and wiped them out in ten seconds! I don't think being outnumbered can stop that thing."

"Five is different from ten, or twelve, or fifteen," Rodimus said. "Especially if everyone is armed."

"I don't think so," Megatron said. "Whatever this thing is, it seems to know how to hit its targets without getting shot. It knows it has to move quick or it misses its chance. That's why it's waited this long to do anything, it was looking for the opportune moment to strike. But why take this long...?"

"While you guys are busy playing Clue, I've got a ship that's been invaded by an invisible, unstoppable killing machine. So if you guys don't have any answers--"

Behind Getaway, Blaster came running from the hall.

"What is it?" Getaway asked him.

"Th-The thing got Hoist!" he cried, visibly upset.

"AND YOU LED IT _BACK HERE!?"_

Crosscut suddenly lurched, a red blur swinging behind him before disappearing. He rubbed the back of his neck, panting in fear and aiming his gun all over the room.

"IT'S IN HERE! IT'S IN HERE!" One of the crew members began to scream.

"Stay calm!" Getaway told his crew. "Circle formation!"

The unidentifiable blur reappeared this time beside Getaway himself. A blink-fast swipe slammed the side of his head into the console, knocking him to the ground in a daze. The blur disappeared again, and everyone still standing in the back of the room started screaming and firing. Rodimus and the others watching stared in shock, disturbed as they witnessed one by one, the crew get struck by the instant-long red streaks and fell from the camera view. One of them called for backup from their radio, then got the same treatment, taking several strikes to the legs and chest before collapsing.

"Primus..." someone whispered behind Megatron.

"Rewind, cut comms," Rodimus ordered.

"Belay that," Megatron raised a servo. "Let's see what happens."

"You SAW what happened!" Rodimus argued. "That thing wiped them out like they were toys!"

"There's backup," Megatron said. "If we can catch where they come in from, we might see where the...thing entered from, and hopefully, one of them will hit it."

Backup eventually arrived through a back entrance, from the side hallway that led to the service areas.

"Why not keep them in the same room, or somewhere close by?" Rodimus asked.

"Because putting everyone in one place gives the thing an easier chance of taking everyone out at once. Keeping the parties split, in hard to reach locations, increases their odds of survival," Megatron explained.

It wasn't the most sound strategy, but the captain didn't expect expert planning from someone as inexperienced as Getaway.

Grapple, Siren, Atomizer and Riptide ran into frame, guns firing. Somewhere on the other side of the room, a splash of blue splattered on the white wall across from the gunmechs.

"It bleeds!" Riptide cried. "If it bleeds, we can kill it! keep shooting!"

Except nobody knew where to fire, so they shot everywhere. For several minutes they fired nonstop, until the guns overheated in their servos. The group stopped firing, holding their breath, optics wide in fear. On cue, two seconds later the red blur reappeared in front of Riptide, snapping his legs and then slamming him onto his stomach. A final blow to his head knocked him unconscious. The others started to fire again, but Atomizer called for them to stop.

"Are you kidding, that thing's going to kill us all!" Grapple cried.

"Wait, I have an idea," Atomizer explained.

"And what might _that_ be?" Grapple snapped, pausing his gunfire. It was all the creature needed. Grapple's arm snapped to the side, elbow twisted the wrong direction. The gun clattered to the ground and he yelped in pain. His torso caved in and he collapsed. The red blur disappeared and Siren began to cry.

"Oh god oh god oh god, this isn't how I wanna die, I don't wanna die!" Siren pleaded.

"Shut up," Atomizer tried to order him. The mech didn't stop, gun shaking in his servo as he rambled on in a shaky voice. Atomizer searched the room frantically, then stared straight at Siren. The mech watched his friend intensely, as if looking for something.

"What?" Siren asked, seeing Atomizer's staring.

"Don't move," Atomizer told him. He aimed straight at his friend, gun ready to fire.

"WHOA!" Siren held up his servos. "Atomizer, please!"

"Stay still," Atomizer demanded.

The red blur reappeared, knocking the outstretched gun from Siren's servo. Atomizer immediately began firing, a continuous stream of bullets filling the air between his friend and himself. Siren fell, crying in pain as bullets pierced and scorched his armor. Just next to him the creature doubled over, now more viewable, blue liquid pouring from fresh bullet wounds.

Now that the creature was still enough, Atomizer kept shooting, moving forward. The pain and gunfire had it pinned against the wall, and even if it tried to run, it was too wounded to be of any lethality now. Atomizer slowly made his way up to the pinned creature before swatting it with the butt of the gun. It toppled out of frame, blue blood dripping on the wall behind it.

Getaway's voice was heard groaning. His head peeked out from below the console, head heavily dented where it was slammed onto the console surface. He rubbed at the wound, visibly wincing.

"How'd you take that thing out?" he asked his friend.

"I shot at it." He looked down at where it collapsed. "I shot at it _a lot."_

Getaway pulled himself up. He raised his pounding head up, and noticed the stream was still going. He hurried to shut it off, and the comms link closed, now filled with static.

"What the hell..." Whirl said quietly.

Megatron turned to Rewind. "Were you able to record that for playback?"

"Not only that," Rewind replied, "but I went one step further and saved the transmission location. They didn't turn off their transponder before calling us. I guess they were more concerned with the monster."

"Excellent. Track down the location. And put the stream back up on the screen."

Rewind did as he was ordered. Getaway's busted head reappeared, paused on the last frame of the video.

"What is it?" Rodimus asked.

"I was paying attention to the way it moved around the room," he said, "and the room itself. Rewind, could you go back to when it attacked Getaway?"

The tape rolled back in reverse, no sound playing, before stopping right as Getaway's head is slammed into the console. The clip replays over and over, only a second long.

"Pause...there." Megatron pointed at the screen. Getaway's face is blurred as it is slammed, but the red blur can almost clearly be seen, its arm a large blur on top of Getaway's head. The rest of its body had been still just long enough for a low-resolution shot to be captured of its appearance. Details were hard to make out, but there was enough to make out a shape, frame type, colors, and optics.

"Wait, who is that?" Ratchet asked.

"Not one of the Lost Light members, I don't think," Cyclonus said.

"His colors suggest he might be a spectralist," Drift pointed out. "The color scheme, the crest on his helm--"

"Wait, I know her." Swerve straightened up.

 _"Her?"_ Rodimus asked.

 _"Her?"_ Nautica also asked.

"Yeah, she sometimes showed up at the bar, really late at night," he said. "She'd only show up if nobody else was around. Was always worried if she was bothering me. Never stayed for long, but she always had this datapad with her. I never saw her outside the bar, though."

"I never saw her, period," Whirl said. "Did any of you?"

"Nuh-uh," Tailgate answered.

"Not me," Drift said.

"Couldn't tell you," Ratchet said.

"...Wait. Getaway said the engines were sabotaged," Megatron spoke. "And that the map had also been destroyed."

"Yeah?" Rodimus said.

"Whoever she is, she has access to the bridge," Megatron continued. "And not only that, she has access to the engine room as well. Who would be able to access both?"

"Someone high in command," Drift said.

"Someone call Magnus," Rodimus instructed. Tailgate ran out of the room to find him.

"How can there be someone high in command we don't know?" Drift asked.

"Someone who's into spectralism," Rodimus said, folding his arms. "And who, clearly, has some tricks up their sleeve."

"Someone who's only ever seen at Swerve's late at night," Nautica spoke.

"When no one's around," Swerve added.

"She was intentionally avoiding being seen this whole time," Megatron concluded. "That's why none of us know her. She's been trying to stay undetected."

"But why?" Rodimus asked. "If she's part of the higher ups, why would she need to hide?"

"And how long has she been there?" Nautica asked. "When did she board the ship?"

"How can she turn _invisible?"_ Whirl asked.

"That may be how she's gotten around without being seen," Cyclonus suggested. "If she can turn invisible, who's not to say she used that to keep herself unseen? She could have been on the ship since its first launch, and nobody would know. But why the secrecy?"

"What's this?" Terminus asked, as he and Magnus entered, with Tailgate trailing behind.

"The Lost Light called us," Megatron explained. "They were under attack. Looks like they took care of it, but we're trying to figure out who this femme is. None of us know her."

"Prisma."

Everyone turned to Magnus.

The mech looked to them all. "She's the cartographer. Her task was to help us translate the map. Trailcutter helped finish it, and Rodimus was able to put it together, but we still didn't have anyone who could read ancient maps. Prisma was interested in boarding when she heard about the mission, and asked if we'd need her expertise. I told her yes, and she said she'd board, under one condition."

"What was the condition?" Rodimus asked.

"That I never tell a spark she was there," Magnus answered.

"So we have someone who likes to be unseen, who was displeased with Getaway and decided to stop sitting on the sidelines and retaliate, who can read the map and yet none of us except Swerve have seen her?" Rodimus threw his arms up. "How is that even possible? What has she got to hide?"

"A dark past likely," Cyclonus said.

"Maybe, but if she did, why keep hiding, and only let Swerve see her? She's not exactly the one with the worst reputation to board the ship."

Megatron mentally shoved away the stinging truth of the statement.

"And how did she even work on the map, if we never saw her?"

"Because she's agoraphobic."

Everyone turned to see Nightbeat leaning on the doorframe.

"You have that 'I know better than all of you' look on your face, Nightbeat," Rodimus sighed. "Go ahead, tell us what you figured out."

He stepped into the room. "This femme's been hiding this whole time, but if she wanted she could have boarded without telling anyone. But she told Magnus, and made him promise not to tell a spark she was there. She went to Swerve's late at night because she knew Swerve wouldn't be likely to just talk about a random person who shows up at the bar late at night, and probably to get out of her habsuite for a while."

Swerve shrugged. "Why someone shows up, and who they are, doesn't really matter to me. As long as they buy a drink."

"Exactly," Nightbeat said. "As for getting around, she could have been invisible, but look there." He walked over to the screen and pointed in the far right corner, by the hallway. In the ceiling was an open tile, and just viewable, a vent shaft.

"The vents," Rodimus said in surprise.

"Did you ever see her, Ten?" Swerve asked.

"Ten," he answered.

"That's a yes," Swerve told the others. "But he never got a chance to say hi, because she'd move off before he could."

"That explains how she got in there." Nightbeat continued. "And not only that, I'm willing to bet she'd update the map from her datapad, so she never had to go to the bridge to fix it. Right, Magnus?"

Magnus's head lowered. "She asked I give her a datapad that was a direct link to the map, so she wouldn't have to enter the bridge."

"Huh, I always wondered why it looked different sometimes," Rodimus said. "I just thought it was that Cyclonus was able to figure out the Old Cybertronian."

"An agoraphobe, a talented assassin, a spectralist, and non-affiliated, as far as I can gather," Nightbeat said. "Now, all that's left is a motive, and a reason for the undetectability."

"Do you know her, Drift?" Ratchet asked.

"No, not a clue," he said. "I know she's devout, though. She has the Circle of Light's crest on her head."

"She's from Caminus," Nautica cut in. "How could a Camien be on Cybertron, and not only that, have been in the Circle of Light? That was way before the Lost Light even existed."

"A better question would be, why is she so secretive?" Nightbeat asked. "As for a motive, I think I have one."

Everyone waited. "Well?"

He grinned. "Isn't it obvious? She's got a real hard crush on our captain here."

Both Megatron and Rodimus looked confused.

"I know you're not talking about Megatron," Rodimus stated.

"No, not him. _You."_

All optics focused on Rodimus in varying expressions.

"So you're saying, this..."

"Prisma."

"Prisma, thank you. This Prisma femme, has been on my ship the whole time, working on the map in secret, hiding from everybody, is just now retaliating on Getaway, and probably trying to stage a counter-mutiny...because she _likes me."_

"And she's killing people for it too," Whirl said.

"No, she isn't." Drift turned to Rewind. "Roll back to the security feed and play it."

Rewind listened, and the feed played over the security tape.

"Watch. Look, every time she strikes, it's never enough to kill. She's purposefully not causing enough damage that could cause a fatality, only enough to knock them out and keep them from coming after her."

"What about the two on the floor?" Tailgate said.

"We don't know for certain they were dead," Cyclonus said. "They may be just fine, but because of the footage, they appear to be dead."

"How'd you know it was a crush?" Rodimus asked.

Nightbeat smiled. "Because the only person who got a blow to the head was Getaway. Getaway was the leader of the mutiny, and the one who sent the DJD. She must've found out that we were still alive somehow, and decided to make her attempt."

"Was she seriously going to try and pilot an entire ship by herself?"

"More than likely no," Nightbeat said. "If anything she'd probably send a signal, and just wait for us to pick it up."

"That doesn't seem very well thought out," Ratchet said.

Nightbeat shrugged. "Hey, I'm just telling you what she probably had planned, I didn't say her plan was flawless."

"That doesn't answer why she was hiding the whole time," Megatron pointed out. "Or why she'd ever be hiding in the first place."

"Ah, now we turn to our expert in the minds of others," Nightbeat raised a digit. "Rung, you've been quiet this whole time."

"I...Didn't have anything to say," he said aloud from the corner of the room.

"Wow, I didn't even know you were there," Rodimus stated.

"Why would someone be afraid of people?" Nightbeat asked.

Rung seemed reluctant at first, but then answered. "...Shame. People who are afraid of social interaction usually avoid it, because they're afraid of being judged, or afraid they'll embarrass themselves. They may have had a bad experience in public, or feel they're out of control in social situations."

Rodimus thought this over. "So...Prisma basically is afraid of being judged by others for something. But what?"

Drift had an idea, but kept it to himself.

"Well, only one way to find out." Megatron turned to Rewind. "Got that location?"

"Yes sir," the recorder replied.

"Excellent." He addressed everyone. "Rest up, get repairs, and refuel."

"Wait, why not just head there now?" Rodimus demanded.

 _"Oh no, don't you two start,"_ Ratchet snapped. "No more arguing or I'll be fusing you two together at the hip so you'll HAVE to learn to get along, or kill each other."

Both captains went quiet.


End file.
